Etymologically
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monoxide

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 1 November 2026 at 00:32. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • /məˈnɒksʌɪd/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English mono- + oxide,[2][3][4][5] as an international scientific term.[6] Barnhart and Klein give the shorter form of the prefix, mon-.[7][8] Mono- is from Ancient Greek μόνος (mónos, “single, alone”),[4] and oxide is from French oxide, coined in 1787 by Guyton de Morveau and Lavoisier from oxygène and acide.[4][2] The OED compares the earlier dioxide, pentoxide and tetroxide.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

An oxide with one atom of oxygen in its molecule: 1868, in H. B. Jones and H. Watts's edition of Fownes's Manual of Elementary Chemistry,[2] 1868 also in Merriam-Webster.[6] Etymonline dates the word to 1840,[4] Barnhart to 1869,[7] and Dictionary.com to 1865–70.[5]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its one chemical sense, and is best known from carbon monoxide, recorded from the same 1868 manual.[2] That gas is so called because its molecule has one carbon and one oxygen atom, against the two oxygen atoms of carbon dioxide; an older name for it was carbonic oxide gas.[4]

Timeline

  • 1840 – an oxide with one oxygen atom in each molecule.[4] The OED's first record is from 1868.[2]
  • 1868 – carbon monoxide.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (chemistry) An oxide whose molecule contains a single atom of oxygen, as carbon monoxide.[9][6][2][3]

Word family

  • carbon monoxide
  • lead monoxide

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins